22 SEPT 2004 - "Any intrusion by 'flying squads' into
Philippine territory is out of question," said Ignacio Bunye, the Philippine
President's spokesman and press secretary, responding to media questions about
Prime Minister John Howard's plan to deploy "flying squads" of Australian police
to stop terrorist attacks in the Asia-Pacific regions.

Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak also stood firm saying it would
be a breach of national sovereignty. "We won't allow any pre-emptive strikes
when it comes to our own national territory," he said.

Indonesia's ambassador to Australia, Imron Cotan, and nine other
representatives from Southeast Asian nations were told by Foreign Affairs
Minister Alexander Downer two years ago that Australia would not deploy troops
to intervene in regional countries. "We were told that the concept was still
being developed and that Australia would not send any troops to do this
pre-emptive strikes," Cotan said on ABC Radio News.

The Australian government then quickly reassured its Asian neighbours that
pre-emptive strikes against terrorist encampments overseas would not target
its partners in the war against terror. Contradicting his Prime Minister,
Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said the government's
proactive stance on thwarting a terrorist attack isn't directed at those with
solid counter-terrorism measures already in place like Indonesia, Malaysia,
Singapore and the Philippines. "In a situation where a terrorist was about to
attack and the country involved either didn't want to or in their case
couldn't do anything to stop it, we would have to go and do it ourselves,"
said Downer. If needed, he said, Australia would target "failed states" that
were unable to police themselves.

The opposition Labor Party leader Mark Latham called Howard's idea
self-defeating - Australians would be outraged if the reverse happened, he
said. "Imagine if a country in our region said it was prepared to launch
unilateral strikes on targets in Australia, our sovereign territory, without
the cooperation and involvement of the Australian government. Imagine the
outrage in this country. We would feel absolutely appalled."

Mindanao was recently described in an Australian government report as being a
nerve centre of regional terrorism. The report turned out to be based on an
outdated British intelligence compilation of interviews with a supposed Jemaah
Islamiyah (JI) defector and other sources alleging the existence of two Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) training camps for JI recruits. In response,
the MILF invited Australia to send monitors to its camps, but Minister Downer
scoffed at the idea saying the true nature of the encampments would not be
revealed.

Amando Doronila, a highly respected Filipino journalist, is currently a
visiting lecturer at the Australian National University. Doronila observes
that Australia's "gun boat diplomacy" has seriously rankled Southeast Asian
sensitivity over national sovereignty:

"Howard's proposal has kicked up a fresh round of irritation in Australia's
relations with its Southeast Asian neighbors already frayed by Canberra's
insolent and patronizing statements over their capacity to curb terrorist
activities and their commitment to the US-led coalition in the war on
international terrorism. Malaysia and the Philippines, the countries likely to
be asked to host the Australian "flying squads," promptly rejected Howard's
plan.

"The image conjured up in Southeast Asia by the Howard threat is that it is a
pale imitation of U.S. President George W. Bush's pre-emptive policy on
terrorism exemplified by the US-led invasion of Iraq. The plan reminds Asians
- not only Filipinos, Indonesians and Malaysians but also Chinese - of
American gun boat diplomacy being resuscitated by Australia.

"Through its steadfast commitment to Bush's 'coalition of the willing' on Iraq
and through its deployment of 800 troops in the occupation of Iraq, Australia
has etched a strong perception in Southeast Asia that it is playing the role
of regional sheriff in the counter-terrorism war in the Asia Pacific as a
surrogate of the global gendarme - the United States - whose pre-emptive
strike policy is failing as an effective instrument to fight terrorism, in the
light of the escalating attacks by Iraqi militants on US troops in Iraq and
the execution and hostage-taking of individuals associated with American
interests.

"In other interviews, some government ministers said pre-emption did not
foreshadow strikes on suspected Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist training camps
in Mindanao. Howard and Downer have said JI camps would not be attacked
because there was no evidence it would attack Australia directly. Any
deployment of Australian teams would require negotiations with host countries
on the modus of their operation and cooperation with local authorities.

"Any Australian deployment in Mindanao would be superfluous and would run into
complications with the anti-terror operations already under way. Joint
military exercises are taking place between Philippine and American troops in
connection with their joint campaign against the Abu Sayyaf, the terrorist
group linked to the international terrorist network al-Qaeda."